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Writing is one of humanity's greatest inventions.Without it there would be no history and no civilization as we know it. But how, when and where did writing evolve? In a succinct, absorbing and well-illustrated text, Andrew Robinson discusses the history of decipherment and then each of the major writing systems in turn, from cuneiform and Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs to alphabets and the scripts of China and Japan. An invaluable guide to the world's major writing systems, The Story of Writing is a book to read for both pleasure and enlightenment. 'The most accessible and informative book available on the major writing systems of the world' - History Today 'Excellent ... Robinson covers so much ground in such short order that you feel he must have got something wrong or left out something important. He hasn't' - Bookdealer 'Delightful to read ... difficult to put down once started' - Communication Arts

The Story of Writing: Alphabets, Hieroglyphs and Pictograms

I. How Writing Works 1. Reading the Rosetta Stone * 2. Sound, Symbol and Script * 3. Proto-Writing II. Extinct Writing * 4. Cuneiform * 5. Egyptian Hieroglyphs * 6. Linear B * 7. Mayan Glyphs * 8. Undeciphered Scripts III. Living Writing 9. The First Alphabet * 10. New Alphabets from Old * 11. Chinese Writing * 12. Japanese Writing * 13. From Hieroglyphs to Alphabets - and Back? * Postscript in the New Millennium